Rum loses top slot to brandy in Kerala market

Reflecting a change in the drinking preference of Malayalis, brandy is now topping the drink lists of party planners.

| TNN | Dec 25, 2013, 04.44 AM IST

Brandy is now topping the drink lists of party planners in Kerala.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rum, the favourite drink of tipplers in Kerala, never saw it coming. It lost its edge to brandywine—or brandy—in the market, revealed the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) figures.

Reflecting a change in the drinking preference of Malayalis, brandy is now topping the drink lists of party planners. The majority of those who queue up in front of the 300 plus state-run Bevco outlets, too, prefer brandy to rum.

Different brands of rum, which accounted for 52% of the market share till two years ago, dropped to 47%, while brandy registered 48%, Bevco sales figures between April 1 and October 31, 2013, said. Staunch rum loyalists can still take heart: the market share of vodka, whiskey, gin and wine remains meagre, lagging far behind rum.

Bevco attributed the shift in preference to the hike in extra neutral alcohol (ENA) price, the major ingredient used in Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). Though both rum and brandy use the same ENA, the former is cheaper than brandy brands, prompting the manufacturers to push the latter into the market.

"Bevco revised the rates of IMFL only by 9% over the past 10 years but the price of ENA has been on an upward spiral. Due to this, suppliers prefer supplying brandy than rum, which is generally cheaper," Bevco managing director Anil Xavier said.

A Bevco source said though different brands of rum, especially Old Cask, have high demand, the supply has been inadequate.

Various whiskey brands, too, have been on a decline in the Kerala market over the years. "There was a time when the market share of whiskey was as high as 16%. Now it is only 1%," Xavier said.

The increase in liquor prices has hit the overall sales of IMFL in the state. The IMFL sales rate, which was growing at 21% in 2010-11, dropped 16% to 5%.

Bevco, with 338 retail outlets, has a monopoly over liquor sales in the state. On a daily average, each outlet sells liquor worth Rs 5.51 lakh to 3,000 customers.

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